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What Makes Rolling Stones Concerts An Absolute Sell-Out?

1962 was a revolutionary year for the music industry. Five people came together to take the music industry absolutely by storm - a storm which has not lowered in intensity to this day.

The combination of Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards with Ian Stewart on the piano, Charlie Watts on the drums and Bill Wayman formed a group known as Rolling Stones. To date, the Rolling Stones have released 55 albums with 200 million albums sold worldwide to their credit.

What are the reasons for the Rolling Stones' popularity?

* The Rolling Stones can take credit for revolutionizing the music industry of the 70s. As it was then, pop music was very popular all of which changed with the Rolling Stones storming the music industry with their classical fusion of Rock and Blues.

* Its lead vocalist, Mick Jagger, has sang in many albums that were worldwide hits, with the first being released in the summer of 1963 (this was Berry's "Come on"). The Rolling Stones first began their musical career with a gig at the Marquee Club in London in 1962.

* Rolling Stones members as a general rule lasted with the group for at least two decades or so. A case in point is Keith Richards, who was the group's lead guitarist and provided backing vocals for Mick Jagger. He started in 1963 and is around up to now.

* Better still, even now he provides backing vocals to Mick and strums on the guitar. This long term association of most of its band members has enabled Rolling Stones to preserve its style of music over a long period of time.

Who are the band members of Rolling Stones?

Of course, it is but natural that Mick Jagger gets the first mention, since he is the key vocalist in all of the Rolling Stones' concerts. He is the heart of the group. Keith Richards is next in line as the band's lead guitarist and back-up singer. He has been with the band for over 45 years.

Completing the group are Ron Wood (handling guitar, pedal steel and lap steel) and Charlie Watts (handling drums and percussion). These two complete what is called the Big Four. The Big Four has stuck around for the last 33 years of the musical history of the popular musical group.

The class line-up of the big four may be one of the major reasons for their concert successes. The Rolling Stones exude an enduring magnetism that still is able to draw massive and frenetic crowds to their concerts.